Reviving Pharma Ancillary Industry After COVID-19 Lockdown
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the ancillary industry has faced severe restrictions due to a variety of factors. The India Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) said on Monday that it needs concerted efforts for revival. Within the ancillary industry, the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) have a significant presence.
PA President Satish Reddy said, “The ancillary industry is a vital part of the pharmaceutical supply chain. For the industry to function, immediate action is required to support the ancillaries by identifying interventions that will enable their early revival in select segments and clusters”
Several short-term and long-term efforts are needed to be made by all stakeholders for the revival of the ancillary industry, said a report by Accenture and IPA on the theme of ‘Reviving the Pharma Ancillary industry – A Roadmap with Resilience to Excellence’.
Providing disbursal of financial relief to MSME ancillaries by the government should be the short term focus, as per the report. And manpower attendance at work should also be ensured.
It is essential to implement greater transparency across the ancillary network, backing a robust disaster management framework. A cross-industry collaboration platform is also recommended by the study. Greater visibility
in the ancillary value chain to proactively identify supply risks can be driven by such a platform led by large Indian pharma manufacturers.According to the study, reducing reliance on imports from single geography to manage supply disruptions should be a long-term goal. For this, strategic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) need to be identified by the government for indigenous manufacturing.
By lowering borrowing costs, early approvals, set-up common utilities, and research-based linkages to continuously innovate, this plan could be executed.
Ancillary competitiveness through access to sourcing assistance, frugal innovation, better payment terms, and persuading the pharma companies to accept price hikes can be enabled by the knowledge sharing and mentorship facilitated by pharma companies and IPA.
The landscape of Indian pharma is changing. India can become a self-reliant pharma sector with the revival of the ancillary industry and API industry. IPA Secretary General Sudarshan Jain said, to help implement the recommendations in the report, IPA will work collaboratively with all stakeholders.
